Need Clarification on Task Run Number
I'm using Acronis True Image 2010 to create backup images of two hard drives to a third drive. No issue there. However, I would like to name the backups "@task@ @exec@.tib", hoping I would see a sequence of backup files on the backup drive with the following names:
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
.
.
.
Instead I'm seeing:
Image 2
Image 3
Image 33
Image 22
Image 23
Image 24
Image 25
Image 26
Image 27
Image 28
Image 29
Image 210
.
.
.
Maybe I don't understand the meaning of "the sequence number of the task run" in the help file. Could someone please clarify exactly the meaning of @exec@ and what I can expect from daily image backups when the image is initiated from a script? Thanks!
bodgy -
Thanks for the reply. The backups all belong to one archive. I start with an empty removable backup hard drive, and then do incremental backups until it is full. Then the drive is removed to a fire-proof safe and replaced with another empty hard drive. Therefore, the first image on the drive is a full backup and the subsequent images are incremental backups. The image files sizes would seem to confirm this.
I would have expected ascending sequential backup numbers, but as you can see, that's not the case. Is @exec@ counting or dependent on something we're not aware of?
This has the appearance of a task that has been edited either once or twice and numbering changed following the editing. Whenever Acronis provides a warning, the data being referenced in the error window often times requires a change by the user.
Dependence upon too many incremental backups can be unsafe. If you have the time, read 7H inside my signature index below.
GroverH -
Thanks for trying to help. Nope, the task hasn't been edited since it was created. I'll probably need to open a support ticket since only someone familiar with how @exec@ actually works will be able to help.
As far as Incremental backups are concerned, I can only give you the answer a Computer Engineering processor often used: "It depends."
Obviously a sequence of incremental backups are more susceptible to corruption. However, since a sequence of differential backups generally require much more space, there will be fewer of them going back less in time for a given amount of backup storage space. That makes differential backups less useful for recovering versions or restoring from infections.
I'm glad to see you hedged your statement: Dependence upon too many incremental backups "can" be unsafe. The only answer as to what backup strategy to use is "it depends," and can only be determined after a careful consideration of what issues are important and what resources are available.
Ray,
Certainly, the sequence number should be sequential. I have seen similar when even a non-related task was edited. The C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Database\archives.xml gets confused as a result of the editing--even if the edit was upon a non-related script.
Most likely (or my 'guess') is that the files are ok and TrueImage has no problem reading them for restore purposes. It would certainly behoove you to boot from the Rescue CD and perform some test restores and some validation of files. You need to know that the files are functional and the only way to prove that is to test them.
Hopefully, you have other backups & alternate disks so your sole dependence is not upon these files. There has been too many "tales of woe" where a backup was made but a restore never tested and when disaster struck, some found that their backup was not usable. Be safe and test your archives and do so when booted from the TI Rescue CD. Acronis recommends that any restore of the system disk be done so from the Rescue CD.
How many total files are inside the archive? Should you consider maintaining smaller sets with more frequent full disk backups, you might want to consider oracledba's Chain2Gen listed in my signature below.